In the summer, New York City (1GreenProduct's home base) can be a summer festival, but the heat and crowds can also get a bit overwhelming.That's why it was so nice to get away for a couple of days last week to the historic Buttermilk Falls Inn, located about two hours north of the city along the Hudson River.
What makes Buttermilk Falls Inn a great destination for eco-minded travelers looking for a little rest and relaxation?
1. The organic kitchen garden and the organic eggs from the resident heritage breed chickens. This organic bounty goes into delicious and beautiful breakfast dishes such as scrambled eggs with cheese and broccoli or raspberry pancakes. As Local Harvest says, "The best organic food is what's grown closest to you." It's hard to get more local than an organic garden on the property.
2. A new spa that uses solar and geothermal systems to heat the mineral pool, sauna and steam room. The spa also features natural and organic skincare lines such as Dr. Alkaitis, Spa Technologies and Jurlique in its treatments.3. The Inn's 70 acres of bucolic riverfront property provide plenty of room for hiking and strolling. You can borrow bikes to ride on gravel trails or the lightly trafficked local roads. You can play a bit of tennis or take stale bread down to the pond and feed the ducks, swans and one very aggressive goose.
4. Technically, you don't need a car. It's possible to reach the Inn via a 2-hour train ride on Metro North from Grand Central station. You get off at the Poughkeepsie station (last stop on the Hudson Line) and then take a $20 cab ride to the Inn. Note that the inn only serves breakfast, so you'll want to bring some of your own food and perhaps ask for one of the suites with its own kitchen, like the spacious and comfortable Gindelle Suite where we spent our time.
(Tip - If you do take the train up to Buttermilk Falls Inn, sit on the left side going north and the right side on the way back to NYC. You'll enjoy beautiful views of the Hudson River most of the way.)
Service was unfailingly polite and cordial at the Inn. Since travelers with cars will often head off during the day to explore nearby destinations like Hyde Park, you may have the property mostly to yourself if you decide to lazily explore the grounds and gardens.
Room rates range from $225 - $450 per night, although you can sometimes find discounted rates and special promotions.
Here's some more Green travel news we've uncovered recently -
- North Carolina - Travelers to the Blue Ridge Parkway can enjoy the new LEED quality Destination Center providing information and orientations services inside a building with active/passive heating and cooling, radiant floor heating and a green roof.
- Instead of staying at an eco-friendly hotel, why not consider an eco-friendly vacation rental? Sites like HomeAway.com can get you the keys to a villa in Spain that uses solar power for lighting and reuses pool water to irrigate the garden. Or how about an organic Italian farm with free range animals, olive groves and of course solar panels to heat water and make some of the electricity? Another Spanish mountainside home gets its energy from both solar panels and wind turbines, while giving visitors a panoramic view of the Mediterranean.
According to a PR representative for Hotel Rosa Alpina in the Italian Dolomite mountains, the hotel (part of the Relais and Chateaux group) will soon start getting its power from a brand new water-driven power plant. The hydropower plant will apparently produce enough energy to power the entire town of San Cassiano. Nightly rates at Rosa Alpina range from approximately $440 - $540, depending on the season.
- Travelers to Christchurch, New Zealand are "so" lucky to have the option of staying at Hotel SO, a property that uses recycled paper throughout the hotel, 100% biodegradable vegetable-based soaps and shampoos, non-hazardous water-based cleaning products. Want to explore the city? Hotel SO has bicycles available to tool around town. Back in the rooms, water-saving showers and fluorescent or LED lights help you save energy and water. Amazingly, all these eco benefits come wrapped in what looks (from the website) like a gorgeous modern package with flat-screen televisions, wireless Internet and a touch-screen virtual concierge. Even better, rates start as low as ~$63 per night for a double room.
- Looking for more remote and wild (but still luxurious) New Zealand lodgings? You can also check out the Earthsong Lodge, about 30 minutes by air from Auckland on Great Barrier Island. The walls at Earthsong are built from the leftover stems of harvested wheat grain using straw bale construction methods. New Zealand Rimu timber used in window and door joinery were recovered and recycled from a demolished factory.
Solar panels and low energy appliances reduce Earthsong's dependence on fossil fuels. The lodge even has its own aerobic treatment plant to clean waste water to the point where it is used to irrigate the resort's organic gardens. Read all about Earthsong's environmental program here. Since Earthsong is located on a rather secluded island, its room rates include airport transfers, cocktails, dinner and breakfast. Still, those nightly rates are rather steep with the least expensive option a bit less than $700 per night for a double room.
- Callaway Gardens, a 13,000 acre resort in Pine Mountain Georgia (about 80 miles
southwest of Atlanta) recently opened a new LEED certified Lodge and Spa. The resort claims to have eliminated the waste of 200,000 disposable plastic bottles by using refillable shampoo and conditioner dispensers. Housekeeping chemicals are certified 'green' by GreenSeal. All conventional lightbulbs have been replaced with energy-efficient CFL bulbs. Native plantings reduce the need for irrigation, and Callaway Gardens has gone a step further in water conservation by even installing waterless urinals. We encountered a hiccup in the reservations system when we tried to check on sample nightly rates, but Callaway Gardens is advertising special "Back to School" packages through the end of September with rates starting as low as $169 per night.
If you're heading to St. Lucia, Costa Rica, Dominica or Jamaica and looking for a way to explore a rain forest canopy without the heart-thumping zipline experience, consider a ride on a Rain Forest Aerial Tram. The slower pace of the tram allows for an unhurried ride (up to 90 minutes in the case of the Dominica tram), giving you a chance to examine the beautiful flora and fauna instead of having everything rush by in a green blur.
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